Imagine a three- hour concert with no instruments at all.  If there are no instruments, what is there?  At Lincoln Center’s International Body Music Festival, the viewers were invited to find out. The objective of the night was to expose viewers to the lines where music and dance blur.  All of the acts had something in common: the human body was used to its full potential.

The first group was the throat singers Celina Kalluk and Lucie Idlout who hailed from Nunavut, Canada.  This was definitely something I had never heard before.  The two women held each other and produced guttural sounds as they passed air back and forth.  As they shared breath, they shared energy; which created a deep bond between them.  There was an air of whimsy between the pair- each song ended with a laugh.  They panted like dogs pawing at doors.  Of course, none of this is innately Western-musical; a disc jockey would probably get fired if he tried to play this kind of music on Z100.  Yet, this was an interesting exploration of the human body as an instrument.

The SLAMMIN All Body Band was the most impressive out of all the acts.  The only way to describe what they did is “Step-Up” meets doo-wop meets college a capella meets soul.  The band was quite diverse: there was a beat boxer, a body musician (and artistic director of the night) and vocalists.  When they covered “Overjoyed,” by Stevie Wonder it was clear that their knowledge of soul ran deep.

The beat boxing and body music backing up the vocalists was beautiful yet unobtrusive.  I would quickly forget there were no instruments at all.  To show off the body’s capabilities some more, the musicians imitated tribal drums and horns.  They were also only aided by a couple of microphones.  These facts only furthered the point that using instruments and big sound systems were not necessary to create an amazing sound.

Each of the artists was talented in their own way.  They would have solos to prove this, but as soon as they had their shining moments they disappeared back into the group seamlessly, showing the true meaning of an ensemble.  One of the members who stood out was Keith Terry, the artistic director and the resident body musician.  He was able to metaphorically rub his stomach and pat his head at the same time.  He would clap one complicated rhythm and be able to step another.  He made all these wonderful sounds, and the sirens surrounding Lincoln Center seemed to echo his steps poetically.

The next act of the night was Derique McGee, who performed the African American music of Hambone.  His act was short and folksy.  He said that he was taught Hambone by kids down south, and that feeling of childhood was well reflected in his act.  His act was much more scaled down then the SLAMMIN All Body Band but still powerful.

The final group was the Barbatuques, a bunch of bright shiny individuals who promoted a sort of playground vibe.  There were a lot of stepping and hand games.  This playground vibe resounds with anyone of any age or culture.  One of the Barbatuques used the only instrument in the festival.  Though the tiny flute he used added to the song they were playing, I felt like it tried to cancel out all of the body music happening without instruments.  The party really started later in their set when they began to sing in Portuguese, even incorporated Portuguese rapping.  Using Portuguese certainly made the performances more ethnic and fluid.

Though I probably would not listen to or watch body music out of my own volition, the performances were varied and skilled.  It was definitely an eye-opening experience, and it was fun to learn about different cultures.  It was also interesting to hear music using only bodies, since I’m very used to the overproduced, loud, studio-manufactured sounds of today, where Autotune is unfortunately a staple.  I’m very happy that an organization as big as Lincoln Center is so open to new and different work and displays them for free under the stars.